Chaos in Hyrule
by Crimson Redstreak
Summary: This story takes place in Hyrule with Chaos from SA as the main villain. A crossover of many different series. INCOMPLETE! May not be finished for a WHILE!
1. Home Again

Disclaimer: Breath of Fire 3, Phantasy Star Online, The Legend of Zelda, Sonic the Hedgehog and any related characters do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners. Namely Capcom, Sonic Team, Sega, and Nintendo. So now you STILL can't sue me!!!  
  
Chaos in Hyrule  
  
Prologue  
  
Water...Normally referred to as the element that gives life, is also responsible for taking it as well. From the creatures that live in it to the way it sometimes swirls or flows, water can be dangerous and even deadly. But what would happen if it took on a life of it's own, if it suddenly learned to use it's might and do what it wishes? This story is based on a being that has done exactly that. Chaos.  
  
The last anyone heard of him (or it?) was at the destruction he'd caused in Station Square on Mobius, Super Sonic had defeated him and separated him from the Chaos emeralds which he drew his 'Perfect' power from. The anguish in his heart was also drained away. Or so we thought...  
  
Right now we visit a different world, Hyrule, a world that was created from the three goddesses Din, Nayru, and Faor. They left their newly created world sometime after it's creation, in the wake of their exit was the Tri-Force, a combined force of energy made from each of what the goddesses represented: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Years ago and yet never, a very big event happened in Hyrule, Gannondorf took control over the Tri-Force of Power because of a certain meddling princess who thought she could control the Sacred Realm the Tri-Force laid in. The world was plunged into darkness under his rule. He searched for Zelda and the other two pieces of the Tri-Force, yet he didn't find either until a young boy named Link, who inadvertently was the Hero of Time, forced her out of hiding and into the open where Gannondorf could take her. This stunt made the Hero and the other Sages of Hyrule attack his tower and eventually destroy it. In the ruins Gannondorf emerged from being  
crushed beneath tons of stone as his demonic self, Gannon. He was defeated by Link and the sages and thrust into the empty Sacred Realm.  
  
After that adventure Link was sent back in time to prevent this from ever happening. He did so. In present time Link is seventeen and has gone through numerous adventures in other lands as well as Hyrule, most of them involving Zelda in some way or another.  
  
Link is now just returning from an adventure on the high seas on a fishing boat that found him. The crew thinks that he's raving mad because of the story about his adventure on Mobe Island, which he claims was the personified dreams of a being known as the Wind fish or Jabu-Jabu.  
  
Just a few miles of port and Link sees things aren't right. On top of Death mountain is some kind of floating landmass, he can make out the impression of green plant-life just beyond the smoke.  
  
"What is going on?" Link said to himself as the boat landed at the port.  
  
He grabbed his things and jumped off the boat. After saying goodbye to his saviors he walked out to the fields. Unknown to him the waves around the boat became severely high, capsized, and sunk the boat. The Hyrule fields were overgrown with deep green tall grass. A chill wind blew through the empty place. Link took out his sword and hacked and cut his way east toward Hyrule castle, it took hours to slash through it all. Finally he heard the sound of running water, the moat/river around the drawbridge. Link brushed away the grass in front of it to find that the bridge was ragged, and beaten as if someone tried to destroy it with his or her bear hands. The telltale signs of arrows and burn marks suggested fire arrows were used as well.  
  
Who would do something like this? Link thought as he looked for a way inside the town.  
  
Behind him in the shadow of the grass something caught a whiff of something it hadn't smelled in weeks, Hylian. It crept ever closer to its unsuspecting prey, which was presently looking at the bridge the Hylians had used to protect their city, too easy. It didn't have anything to fear in this world from Photon weapons or the like that Hunters used or spells like the Forces used.  
  
Link got a familiar feeling in the back of his neck and gripped the hilt of his sword and the crystal for Din's fire. The creature took no notice to his pathetic weapon and charged from the grass slicing it away with its scythe arms, hissing and spitting out liquid silk. Link spun around and used the fire spell on this new monster. The crystal glowed and blew fire at the huge Mantis, yet it continued to charge. Link put away the crystal and stood his ground with shield in hand. He swung his sword in an arc and cut the beast across its chitin-laden chest, it didn't seem to notice as it struck back. The glowing scythe went right through the metal shield. Link did a back-flip and charged his sword with a power only he has, he fired a blast of energy from the end of his blade, the beast fell back into a heap and screeched in agony as it's chest leaked an orange fluid. The body began to disintegrate and it's young scattered in all directions so that the predator monsters of  
Hyrule didn't eat them immediately after hatching from their mother, so is the way of the Grass Assassin, a horrible beast made of many other small insects that can also grow into more. Link sighed and sheathed his sword, looking down on his broken shield. He turned back to the bridge to find a way in.  
  
Hiss! Screee!  
  
Aw man, not more of them, link thought as he turned his head to the horror behind him. There were at least ten slashing through the grass from all sides. The first one slammed straight into him and sent him flying into the water. Everything went dark for the young hero as the cold water enveloped his body.  
  
"Is he okay?"  
  
"He should be. He was strong enough to kill a grass monster."  
  
Link remembered his new foe and sat straight up, only to fall back in pain. He looked around to see he was in a familiar place, Lon-Lon Ranch. Lying on a bale of hay with Malon sitting beside him.  
  
"Hey Fairy-boy," she said cheerfully. "How you doing?"  
  
"Humiliated," Link said. "Where's your father at?" Then it hit him. "Where is Epona?"  
  
"Don't worry about it, she's fine, a little jumpy, but otherwise okay. My father is outside tending to the cows."  
  
"What is going on around here? The fields are overgrown, there's an island floating over Death Mountain, and the Drawbridge is always closed. I mean Gods...it wasn't this bad when I left a year ago."  
  
"I know it wasn't. I guess I should fill you in on what's been going on around here and the castle." Malon has a tense look on her face, as if she's mad. "When you left something happened to the temples all over Hyrule, even the three hidden temples. The field began to overgrow with grass and vines, you should see the forest it's horrible, Poes and other kinds of ghosts have been getting more frequent, and the Temple of Time has transformed."  
  
"Into what?"  
  
"An evil place with it's own brand of monsters that roam the streets at night, ultimately they had to seal off the temple. A few days after that an island flew over the top of Death Mountain, someone or something chained it there to block the heat from escaping the volcano for some reason. And worse of all there's something going on with the Gorons, the Kokiri, and the Zoras."  
  
Link's eyes widened," Like what?"  
  
"They're turning into monsters. All of this started when that monster appeared around Lake Hylia."  
  
Link got up," Well then that's where I'm going."  
  
"We just plucked you out of the river, you can't be ready to go anywhere yet."  
  
"I'll be fine," he pulls out his fairy ocarina. "Especially when I have this. I won't have to set foot in the fields."  
  
"Good luck."  
  
"Thanks," He said, beginning to play the Serenade of Water. I'll need it.  
  
His body disappeared in blue flash of energy. In under an hour the melody of Link's song ringed around the lake and he appeared above the entrance to the Water Temple. As Link totally appeared on the white platform in the middle of the lake he held his nose. On the banks of the river were piles of dead fish and monsters that eat them. The water in the lake was dark and a thick layer of fog sat on top, the bridge that led from the small island back to the land was destroyed. The house on the shore had also been demolished.  
  
'Nice isn't it?'  
  
Link turned to see a creature made only of water with a single brain in the 'head', it's body held a certain reptilian quality.  
  
"Who...what are you?" Link stammered as he took out his sword.  
  
'I am Chaos. Put that thing away it is useless against me.'   
  
Link held his sword, charging it," No. Now what are you?"  
  
'A being that is beyond your comprehension, I am Water personified. And yes I am responsible for what has happened here in Hyrule.'   
  
"You did all of this?" Link demanded. "All of the destruction, all of the death, all of the suffering was from you?"  
  
'No...that was my new friend's idea'   
  
"It's good to see you again Hero of Time," said a deep familiar voice.  
  
"Gannon..."  
  
Link looked behind him to see the human form of his eternal enemy. Gannon was no worse for wear than when Link first saw him, clad in his black armor with strange gauntlet and glowing sword strapped to his back.  
  
"I have been to many worlds before meeting Chaos here. And I've come across some very good souvenirs, yet I always find a use for this," He held up his right hand and the Tri-force of power lighted into view. "I still want yours, kid."  
  
Link held up his blade and said," Just try it!"  
  
Gannon laughed at him. "Still the same attitude. I'm going to savor this...De Rol Le attack!"  
  
The waters around the platform churned and surged, it slowly parted to reveal a huge worm or maggot rise from the depths. Behind it writhed dozens of tendrils with needles at the ends. It growled and gurgled in the water.  
  
"Well I'd love to stay here but I've got places to go, people to oppress, and things to destroy," Gannon said as he disappeared. "Chaos, meet me at the Forest Temple."  
  
'I see you have no fairy, so I'll explain my little pet here,' Chaos said as he oozed into the water in blob form. 'He is a mutated worm from the world of Ragol, it uses it's tentacles to inject it's venom into other creatures and make them monsters too. There are five or six others swimming around Hyrule.'  
  
"What?" Link yelled as the massive worm leaped from the water toward him. He took a defensive position with his sword and ran toward it. "Okay let's see what you've got!"  
  
To be continued... 


	2. Deep Blue

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story, save Axel, Brax, and Drake, belong to me. They are property of their respective owners, so now you STILL can't sue me, MAN!!!  
  
  
  
Chaos in Hyrule  
  
Chapter 2  
  
The maggot sprang from the water and leaped over Link's head, spraying odd-colored water from it's gills. As it touched his arm, Link yelped in pain, it burned a red mark in his arm. The beast disappeared beneath the water without so much as a ripple and a low groaning sound. The young hero pulled his arm into his tunic and pulled out a mask, as well as a red scale and leaped into the water after De Rol Le. After hitting the water Link pulled the mask to his face and felt a change begin in his body, his skin became smooth and pale, his feet morphed into fins, and others appeared on his back and arms. Link had become a Zora. His attire had also changed to a blue tunic and a long curved dagger instead of a sword. He grasped his new weapon and swam down into the depths.  
  
The groaning sound became louder and louder as Link swam closer to the entrance to the water temple. Finally the murk lifted as the doorway came into view, a second later Link wished it hadn't. The temple's front gate was overgrown with a strange glowing lichen and was crumbling around the edges. The steel gate on the sides were rusted over and falling apart.  
  
Oh man, Link thought as he drifted into the temple. Something horrible is happening here. Gannon must have done something to the sage's power again. Saria, Ruto, Impa…Zelda. What's become of all of you? How could you let this happen?  
  
  
  
As if it were any consolation to him, Link pulled himself out of the water and into the temple's gleaming air lock. The walls actually glowed by themselves, the golden floors enhanced the setting, just like the long vertical chamber that made up most of the temple itself. The half flooded chamber was covered in jewels and seemed to shift and change every few seconds. Link looked up at the ceiling and saw something that made his blood run cold, encased in red ice were at least a hundred Zoras. All of them were in a state of suspended animation and each held a look of horror on their faces. Screaming, crying, yelling, there were even some frozen in mid-stroke, possibly trying to swim away when it happened. Whatever did happen.  
  
He took his eyes off of the ceiling and leapt into the water. He drifted on the currents that shifted every few seconds all over the place. Soon enough Link found himself underwater, swirling in a whirlpool. Link flung his limbs in every direction opposite of the current, but couldn't escape. As Link was swept in an outside arc of the currents he thought he saw a flash of movement, the worm was in here with him. Link started to struggle against the current more and more and each time he did so his body was flung in a farther direction. Suddenly Link was slammed against a large geode hanging from one of the walls. Blood oozed from his mouth and into the water, Link's head spun ,and each movement hurt even more that the one before. So for a few moments Link stopped moving. The throbbing in his head stopped finally and he noticed that the glowing gems were sinking away and that he was floating upward. Finally free of the current, Link pulled himself out of the water and onto a ledge. He shut his gills and took a deep breath with his lungs.  
  
When he opened his eyes, he immediately went for his dagger and slashed the enemy across the throat making a scraping sound. Link chuckled as he got on his feet.  
  
Oh yeah, I'm a mighty hero. I've just vanquished a stone lion.  
  
Link walked past the stone statues and into a long hallway that Link once thought he'd never get to, a Boss Chamber. The long slope that was there before was replaced by a flight of steep stairs that led to golden door. Link walked along the stairs slowly until he heard a sound, slight, but a sound nonetheless. A rush of air was his only warning as a vase from the top of the stairs fly right at him. It missed him just barely, smashing against the wall on the opposite side of the room. Link rushed up the stairway just as three more pots smacked into the stairs he'd just occupied. As he reached the top a large urn that sat in front of the door began to vibrate and spin.  
  
"No," Link wailed as he removed the Zora mask from his face and held his sword in front of his. "No, no, no!"  
  
The urn hurled itself toward thew hero and Link sliced upward through it, shattering it, a feat he couldn't exactly do with a dagger. Link kicked open the door and strode inside. The room was dark, lit only by three dim candles. In the center was an alter, and as far as Link could see, surrounded by water.  
  
"Who is there," a faint voice said from the darkness.  
  
Link stepped forward into the humid room. "Link, Hero of Time, but who or what are you?"  
  
"Link? Don't tell me you've forgotten about me…forgotten about your betrothed. Forgotten about your princess."  
  
"…Ruto."  
  
Link stepped forward and removed a wand-like object from his tunic. He pointed it at each of the candles and they lit like flares in the darkness. Indeed it was Ruto on the alter in the center of the room, and then again it wasn't. Ruto was aged, withering and drained. She sat on the alter with her legs halfway frozen with red ice, her eyes were gray and lifeless.  
  
"Ruto, what happened here?"  
  
Ruto wheezed for a few moments and then said," I wish I knew. I and the other sages were plucked from anywhere in Hyrule we were residing and then brought to the Boss chambers in each of our own temples. Since I was brought here," Ruto stopped and started to wheeze again. "My energy has been sapped from my body, my temple, the waters in Hyrule, and drained into that."  
  
Ruto pointed across the chamber toward a light blue gem floating above the water. It was an expertly cut diamond and rotated from left to right.  
  
"Then I suppose I should do something about it," Link said as he removed his hook-shot from his tunic and pointed at the gem.  
  
Link fired off the hook-shot and just as it neared the jewel, a deep groaning sound resonated from the water and a huge maggot rose from the water, blocking the hook-shot. Link retracted it and unsheathed his sword.  
  
"I hate my job sometimes," Link said.  
  
Link hopped to the side as the maggot leapt toward him. It landed on it's scaled belly and writhed on the ground. It was beached.  
  
"YAH!!" Link slashed into the side and gills of the creature as it screamed and hissed impotently. "Hah! Yeah, what now? Huh? Whatcha gonna do now you stupid overgrown worm!?"  
  
As if to answer our hero the creatures tentacles flashed through the air and smacked him across the room. He lay winded on his side as the beast pushed itself slowly back into the water. Link stood up on wobbly legs and ran to the water's edge. The creature was plainly visible beneath the surface of the water on the other side of the pool, but what was it doing over there? Suddenly it's tentacles flew from the water and wrapped themselves around the hero's legs. It lifted him into the air above the water and rose above the surface. It's entire vile body was visible, even the parts of the underbelly not protected by scales. Link stabbed again and again at the tentacles holding his feet, but they just wouldn't give.  
  
As a flash of light came from the maggot's mouth, Link looked at it's open maw. It was glowing an eerie purple color and was gathering more light. This was not a good sign. Link desperately tried one more thing, hoping the attack it would finish him with wouldn't be too powerful.  
  
In a low guttural growl a beam of energy lanced from the maggot's mouth. Just as it was about to collide with the hero, Link suddenly pulled a shiny mirror-like shield from behind his back. The beam ricocheted off the shield and right back into De Rol Le's 'face'. Link was unceremoniously dropped into the increasingly polluted water.  
  
He climbed out onto Ruto's platform. After plucking off a piece of flesh or whatever that thing was made of from his tunic, he started hacking at the red ice that continued to creep along the Zora's skin.  
  
"Link," Ruto wheezed. "Don't worry about me, get the gem."  
  
Link reluctantly pulled away from her and walked over to the fully blue diamond. As he made contact with the jewel the triforce marking on his hand grew brightly. Soon the entire room began to glow white. The red substance on Ruto began to recede from her body, just as the darkness and other jewels were receding from the rest of the temple. In a few moments Link's eyes were overwhelmed with light. When his vision returned he was standing in the diadem circle of Hyrule. The circle of medallions around him had six differently colored gems floating atop them instead of the sages. Ruto sat atop her water seal, this time she was herself again. The curvaceous Zora princess that had given him such a hard time years ago as a child didn't seem so spoiled anymore.  
  
"What took you so damn long to come back," she yelled, making an echo sound throughout the realm she had apparently taken them too. "Have you got any idea how long I was waiting in that chamber, being drained by that bauble in your hand. It's sickening!"  
  
"Who put you there exactly," Link asked. "Lemme guess: A creature made completely out of water?"  
  
"Yes," Ruto answered, surprised. "How did you know?"  
  
"I met him, her…it on top of the temple."  
  
"Well anyway, it won't take me by surprise this time. I'm going to stay right here until all the other sages are free."  
  
"Wa-wa-Wait! You're telling me that you want ME to go stop that thing and Ganon? I had enough of a hard time freeing you, who knows what kind of beasts are guarding the rest of the sages and those diamonds that are draining away Hyrule."  
  
"Are we afraid?" Ruto teased, batting her eyes.  
  
"Well, um," Link sputtered. "No! Of course not! I-"  
  
"Good then I guess you'll be on your way then hmm? Oh and don't forget this…"  
  
On the hero's right arm a long shot appears. Link is just about to say something else as the Sacred Realm disappears from sight to be replaced by the newly clean Lake Hylia. As Link looks over the crystal clear water he can see outlines of dozens of Zora's swimming toward the north bank.  
  
Oh well, I'd better get a move on.  
  
Just as Link pulls out his Ocarina he is smashed against the chest by something hard. He flies backwards into the tree by the temple diadem. Though his blurred vision Link can see a spiky blue silhouette walking towards him.  
  
"Now let's see what we've got here," someone said as he went through the hero's items and weapons. "Useless, pathetic, stupid, c'mon where are you?"  
  
Upon pulling out the diamond that Link had just discovered he said," Ah- hah, I knew you were good for something."  
  
Just as he was about to sprint away Link came to his full senses and shouted," What's this about? Ugh, who are you?"  
  
The blue apparition with the quills protruding from it's back and the red sneakers said," The name's Sonic. Thanks for the Chaos Emerald, loser!"  
  
With that said he ran off at a godlessly reckless speed. Able to hydroplane over the water and onto the other bank with a matter of seconds. All he left was a crumpled hero, some footprints, and a trail of flame.  
  
To be continued… 


	3. The Tiger

Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda, Phantasy Star Online, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Breath of Fire and all related characters all belong to their respective owners. Namely Capcom, Sonic Team, Sega, and Nintendo. Only the characters created here belong to me. So now you STILL can't sue me, MAN!!!  
  
Chaos in Hyrule Chapter 2  
  
"Okay," the hero said as he looked at the flaming trail left on the opposite shore. "What in the hell was that?"  
  
Link had been ambushed by a blue creature named Sonic, who seemed to possess incredible speed. And what had he called the gem that had been draining the power from Ruto.a Chaos Emerald? It was just too strange. How had Ganon escaped his prison, though?  
  
He stalked back and forth on that little island for a few minutes before bending down and picking up his ocarina. Malon had apparently given him the abridged version of the story. Now it looks like we'll have to go to the source for some real info around here. Link readied his weapons for any more surprises he'd run across and played the warp song for the shadow temple with a bit of a flair at the end. Soon he was spirited away with a purplish dark light. Soon enough he emerged near his target.  
  
Link looked down. "Oh craaaapp!!" He'd materialized on the fence instead of at the entrance of the graveyard. That was the reason for the deviation in melody was so he could control where he would 'land'. He hadn't exactly concentrated on it though, that's why he's on his head against somebody's grave.  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
Link pushed himself up and looked over his shoulder at who'd asked. The sun seemed to go behind a cloud as he looked upon him. It was a teenager dressed in a blue tunic and tan pants. At his side was a strange looking sword, the hilt seemed to be a dragon's mouth and the blade it's tongue. To make him seem even more odd was the addition of blue hair and unnatural glowing blue eyes. They were animal-like, wild, but almost at the same time, sad and empty for some reason.  
  
He looked up at the sky and narrowed his eyes. "The sun's going down soon. It's not safe here after dark, you should go."  
  
Link got up and brushed himself off. "Yeah, yeah, Stalchildren and Poes, whatever. Look, I gotta go."  
  
As Link walked past him, he said," Ganon was right about this 'hero', ignorant and sarcastic. Doesn't look too strong though."  
  
Link turned around and saw not but air. A shadow passed over the cemetery with a strange roar and then all was quiet again. The green clad hero didn't waste any time by rushing away from the scene and into Kakariko. The place was the same as he'd left it. The rustic village was quiet at this time of day, people were walking home from whatever chores they'd been carrying out during the day. As he walked out into the main street, Link saw that the main gate to the town was heavily boarded and reinforced with iron bars. Seems that the creatures from the field had tried to get inside. Each of the people who passed him seemed to have two things in common: each carried a weapon and a look of fear on their faces. He wandered around a bit before walking up to the tavern that was usually jumping at sunset with guys drinking away the stress of the work day.  
  
Link opened the door and walked inside. Nobody was laughing, nobody was talking, and nobody was playing the games. The attractive serving girl by the counter next to the Bombchu game was picking with her nails with this bored look on her face. There were about five guys at the bar, swigging some drinks. Link sat down next to a guy he barely recognized without his armor on, Harris, the royal knight assigned to the town that Link had given his Keaton mask to as a kid. He'd always worn it, since his son had apparently changed his mind. Right now he looked like he had the world's weight on his shoulders.  
  
"Hey, Harry," Link said cheerfully. "What goin' on?"  
  
Harris took a look up from his beer and then looked away from the hero, as if ashamed. He could seem to bear to look Link in the eye.  
  
Link tried to look him in the face anyway. "C'mon, man, what's the problem? I've never seen you wanna get smashed before. Does it have something to do with Ganon?"  
  
No answer.  
  
"Answer me, dammit! I leave for a year and the whole world goes to hell!" He got up and looked around the bar furiously. "What the hell is going on around here?"  
  
He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. The stringy bartender he recognized as the organ grinder from the windmill was standing there with a mug on the counter. "Sit down and have a tall one, kid. You're gonna need it for what's about to come next."  
  
Link sat on the stool and took the mug in hand. "It started about a few months ago. Little stuff at first. Murders by drowning, sightings of mysterious monsters in the fields and near the temples. It was all just strange until two months ago when that island parked over Death Mountain. Finally Ganon emerges from whatever prison they threw him in years ago. He defeated all of the Hylian knights and then goes and incapacitates all the sages." He's shaking with anger right about now. "He has this creature go around, this creature made of water, that travels around Hyrule and the desert. It leaves all this dark energy and destruction in it's path. These strong ass monsters and such completely overpower everyone. They say the Gerudo are worse off than any of us right now, poor gals are slaving away in the Spirit Temple on something."  
  
"What happened here? And why is everyone so afraid?" Link asked through clenched teeth.  
  
"It's the tiger." Harry says.  
  
"Say what?"  
  
Harris looks up from his beer and repeats," The tiger. He and his two friends have been ransacking the village and stealing whatever they need from us. Since the Grass Assassins multiplied a few months ago, we haven't been able to get any sort of food over here for a couple of weeks. We would be fine if not for those thieves. I tried to stand up to them, but they knocked me out and stole all the food they could carry away." He looked down at his feet. "When I came to I'd been stripped of my armor, my weapons, and even my mask."  
  
Link felt for him. Since he started wearing that Keaton mask in battle against the occasional rampaging monster or barbarian, people had been calling him the 'Kakariko Fox'. He wasn't up to Link's level, but he was fast and precise when he fought. The Gerudos even started calling him 'Zorro'. (Spanish for fox, please don't start wit' me, MAN!!!)  
  
"So this 'Tiger' guy and his friends just ran up in here and started taking whatever they want," Link verified angrily. "Why isn't the Queen doing something about this?"  
  
The bartender laughed. "When I said the sages were outta commission, that meant Queen Zelda too. The council's in an uproar about it."  
  
Link downed the contents of the whole mug and stood up. "Where do these punks like to stay?"  
  
Harris smiled and looked over the bar. "I told you guys he wouldn't take this lying down! They say that the thieves hang around the Dodongo caves. And Link, be careful, man! These guys aren't your normal opponent."  
  
And I'm not normally this pissed off, Link thought as he left the tavern of cheering villagers.  
  
____________________________________________________________________________ __  
  
The place was clean.I mean totally spotless. No Dodongo droppings, no shattered bits of bomb plants, nothing. Link unsheathed his sword and unlimbered the enchanted mirror shield from his back. He cautiously padded through the entrance to the cave and inside. Upon walking into the main chamber our hero expected to encounter a blast of heat that this place usually gave off when he walked in. Even with the Goron tunic it would be annoying. But the place was, well .dead. The ground where the lava was situated had been frozen over with red ice that resisted even the most intense heat. The monsters that liked to frequent this area were dealt with already. The flaming bat's hides were hanging above the ancient Dodongo's head on the chains. There seemed to be some kind of huge shattered green gem in between the fossilized creature's eyes. A crimson pool seemed to be fed into the crater of missing crystal from the chains that laid against the top of the head from the chamber. The red glowing liquid was lava coming from Death Mountain for some reason.  
  
'I've got to go check on the Gorons soon. This just isn't right.' As Link hopped up on the main platform he saw that one of bridges was torn down. The place was obviously inhabited and not by Dodongos either.  
  
"So, you must be Link, huh?"  
  
Link spun around and saw who had spoken to him. Another guy, late-twenties, blond with tiger stripes.all over his body. He even had a freaking tail. He was dressed in scruffy looking brown and green gear and strapped to his hip near his back was a short sword.  
  
"Ryu was right, you really don't look like much," he said.  
  
Link went into a defensive stance and prepared for whatever attack the were- tiger had planned. "So you're the tiger? Got any last words before I start kicking your ass all over this cave?"  
  
'The tiger' simply shook his head and snapped his fingers. Link felt something behind him and instantly twisted his shield around. With a loud clang, the blue clad theif, Ryu had appeared with his strange dragon saber in hand. Without a sound, the were-tiger slid up next to Link and quickly swept his sword out of it's sheath. With a quick slitting movement, he cut downward at Link's flank making a huge gash. Snickering deviously, he flipped away and Ryu strafed away from his opponent with him. After a moment he revealed something in his hand, Link's wallet.  
  
"Nice haul, Rei," Ryu said.  
  
"Thanks, man. Yo, Teepo! Help us take care of this clown!"  
  
Link immediately back-flipped away from his present location just as a purple-haired swordsman tried to cut him in half with a katana. He was dressed in a black tunic and overcoat that came down to the top of his boots. Unlike Ryu or Rei he wore armor and gauntlets. Link swung three times at Teepo's torso and each time his blade was deftly knocked away. He swung to take out his knees and Link jumped the attack and kicked him in the gut. As if not fazed by the strike, Teepo lunged and tried to run Link through. The hero proved too agile and leaped out onto his sword. Just before he leapt off, he slammed the flat of his sword against Teepo's head.  
  
Ryu and Rei rushed in and surrounded him. Rei, Ryu, and Teepo.They weren't that good. Link pulled his sword behind him and began concentrating his energies into it. The light in the room seemed to be drawn into the pulsing blue blade which after a few seconds became gold.  
  
"YAH!" He released the energy and spin in a 360. A wave of golden energy created a ring around Link as he spun. Three flashes of light occurred in the chamber when the wave reached his opponents. When he was finished he looked around the chamber for his opponents. Each of the trio had mysteriously disappeared.  
  
Fwoomph! Fwoomph!  
  
Link recognized that sound.an exaggerated version of some great beast's wings flapping. He looked up and saw them descend. A large blue dragon with forward slung tusks and wicked red claws gliding down on large leathery wings. Ryu. The black dragon next to him was slowly falling also, the same sort of features with glowing gold eyes and a mane of violet hair behind the snake head. Teepo. Then came the roar, the sort of sound that rocked the entire chamber with the sheer power of it's bass and shook dust from the ceiling. This roar was that of a tiger. A heavily muscled, striped, humanoid beast lithely dropped to the floor. Rei.  
  
"That was a nice little move you've got there," Rei snarled. "Let us show you ours."  
  
Rei leaped at least ten feet in one bound across the platform and raked his claw 'through' Link's chest. Link coughed for a second before gurgling up a bit of blood and falling on his side. Just as he was going to hit the ground, everything went black.  
  
To be continued. 


	4. The Rebirth

Disclaimer: With a few exceptions of fan characters, none of the characters in this story belong to me. They are the property of their respective owners. So now, you STILL can't sue me, MAN!!!  
  
And yet another episode of Redstreak's Rantings  
  
Judge: For treasonous acts against one's preferred system and using a crossover story in the Sonic category, not updating on a regular basis, and for committing the heinous act of murder on a popular character, you are hereby sentenced to death.Mr. Redstreak, do you have anything to say in your defense?  
  
Redstreak: I told you already, Sonic is the central theme of this fic. Ya gotta believe me!  
  
Judge: * Sigh * Bring out the executioner.  
  
(Big burly dude in a black hood walks out. He pulls back the axe and shoves Redstreak on his side.)  
  
Redstreak: WAIT!!! I'll bring him back, just freakin' spare me!  
  
Judge: You have two days, give him the keyboard.  
  
And without further ado.(and no more glitch-@$$ problems from the site)  
  
Chaos in Hyrule Chapter 3  
  
His chest was ripped apart. Loose tatters of flesh and meat hung from protruding bone as his still bleeding corpse fell to the ground. Just as he laid down to rest eternally and finally end all of his worrying, all of his suffering and all of the endless fighting.it cracked and shattered. In a great flash of light Link's body began to mend into a more recognizable form. The flesh around the ripped hole just refilled and his broken bones just melded back to their original positions. Finally his heart grew back into his breast and began to pump life again.  
  
Link stood up a took a deep breath and proclaimed," Ah, dammit!!!"  
  
He shunted his sword into the ground and started feeling around his midsection, apparently looking for injuries that just weren't there anymore. He felt around that ripped up tunic and cursed again and again. He then looked furiously at the newly transformed enemies in front of him.  
  
"Do you morons have any idea how much this damn thing cost me? Well?" Getting no answer from the dumfounded faces before him, Link retrieved his blade and took up his shield again. "I'm gonna take the three hundred rupees out of your behinds!"  
  
The black dragon moved first and breathed napalm at the green clad hero. Link positioned his shield in front of him and deflected the fire straight up into the beast's eyes. Teepo snarled in pain and lashed out with his bladed tail in Link's general direction, cutting grooves in the floor and walls as he raked it everywhere. Link lunged over the whipping appendage and started running up the black dragon's back. He hopped up and grabbed a painful handful of his mane.  
  
"AAAGGGHHH!!! Get this annoying gnat off of me," Teepo bellowed as Link pulled with everything he had.  
  
Ryu snorted and blew a stream of ice breath at him. Link strafed using the hair as a rope and shifted the shield so as to deflect the stream up at the back of Teepo's head. It was a direct hit and Teepo forgot all about the 'insect' on his back, instead turning his gaze angrily toward his comrade. Link jumped off just as Teepo collided with Ryu and started biting into his neck. The hero chuckled as he looked on the infighting, so absorbed were they with each other they'd forgotten totally about him.  
  
"And don't think I've forgotten about you," Link said as he sheathed his sword and took out his hookshot. "You've still got my money."  
  
He pointed the device up at the ceiling and after shooting the spring- loaded chain was pulled up after it. Link climbed up onto the bridge just as a another stream of ice rocketed past from the fight below. He found Rei looking over the side in his feral form.  
  
"I'm impressed, man," he said nonchalantly. "Ya came back from the dead and found a way to keep both Ryu an' Teepo busy. Shame I ain't as simple."  
  
Rei lunged from his place and crossed the fifteen foot gap between him and the hero in a heartbeat. He pulled back his oversized claw and raked it forward in a tan blur. Link pulled up his arm just in time not to repeat past experiences and grabbed the immense tiger-beast's claw. Surprised at his strength, Rei raked with his other arm and was met with Link's other hand. His strength was uncanny as he held both of the thickly muscled arms in his grasp. Link suddenly swished both his arms at the same time and tossed Rei into a plume of flame that had erupted from the fight below. When he jumped from the platform Link thanked the Goddesses that he'd remembered the strength enhancing gauntlets he'd gotten from the Light Temple long ago, he'd remembered actually lifting towers of solid granite and tossing them like bales of hay. Lifting an eight hundred pound were- tiger wasn't even a challenge compared to that.  
  
He landed amongst the blackened lava and rolled a few times before pulling out the items that would end this confrontation.  
  
"Teepo, let me go," Ryu yelled loud enough to make the walls quake. "He's tricked us. Turned us on one another! Look at Rei." Rei, at the moment, had been laid out on the edge of the platform and had reverted back into his human form.  
  
"And the both of you are next," Link said as he climbed up on the platform with them.  
  
'Gotta time this just right,' the hero thought as he gripped the crystal in his palm.  
  
Both of the dragons sidled to opposite sides of the cavern and took to the air. Five. Teepo began inhaling air and started feeling that strange gassy feeling in his gut that meant the napalm was coming. Four. Ryu focused his eyes on Link and pumped his wings higher. Three.Link started the motions and chanted the incantation. Two. Both dragons gathered the blasts of energy in their maws of dagger-sharp fangs. One. Link knelt down and brought both of his hands to his sides. As soon as the glowing blue crystal formed around him he flung his hands in the opposite directions and let the Deku Nuts fly. Each one exploded in a flash of blinding light and the dragons simultaneously turned to look away.right at each other. The breaths both exploded from their jaws in a howl of outrage and the explosion from the impossible combination blew them into the walls behind them. Link was unharmed due to the Nayru's Love spell.  
  
Link unlimbered his Megaton Hammer and looked on as both of them shrunk and morphed back to their human forms. It would be so easy just to smash their heads open right now. But that wouldn't get him any answers, now would it?  
  
Link strolled up in front of Rei and flipped him over onto his back. The were-tiger was injured, but not unconscious. He looked up at the green clad hero and stared him right in the eye. No fear.  
  
"Why were you harassing the villagers down in Kakariko," Link asked. "And be careful about how you answer," he twirled his hammer," I hate being lied to."  
  
Rei shuddered for a second and then looked to his left. "Some guy named Ganon. He told us to guard that gem over there until it became fully colored. He told us to keep the villagers off the mountain. So we had to scare them."  
  
Link glanced over his shoulder and looked at the partially clear gem as it absorbed the heat from the floor beneath the red ice. "What about the Gorons further up the path? Have you heard anything from them?"  
  
Teepo coughed a little and said," If you call being thrown off the mountain hearing from them. We tried to go up there and get some help from them."  
  
"G-Ganon took us from our own world and forced us to stay here. He said we could only go back home when we took care of the Hero of Time and charged up this Chaos Emerald. Unfortunately, the Goron's sage is fighting the power transfer," Ryu said.  
  
'Darunia.'  
  
Link held up his hammer over Rei. "You'd better tell me how to stop that transfer or I'll-"  
  
"Don't you think we've tried," Teepo yelled. He stumbled to his feet and sheathed his katana. "Ganon made sure that we couldn't double cross him. The Emerald is directly tied in with the Temple Boss and the Sage. It's gotta be either or feeding it, or the transfer won't stop. The Boss and the Sage are both being drained up there. It's just a matter of wills, of whose is greater." Teepo sighed. "Ryu and I have tried flying up there and getting into the temple, but there's some kind of chained up island blocking the volcano. We can't get in."  
  
"I can." Link put away his hammer and helped Rei to his feet. "And I'll help you get back home too."  
  
"What are you doing," Rei asked, obviously confused. "One second you're ready to smash my head open like a watermelon, the next you're going outta your way to help us get outta here. What's up with that?"  
  
"You were used," Link explained. "We don't have any real reason to fight. Besides, I'll need you guys to cause a distraction so I can get into the Goron City. Once I'm there I can take the secret passage to the volcano."  
  
"Uh, aren't you forgetting something," Ryu asked. "Those monsters are in there thick. There must have been a hundred of them from the last time we went up there. Our swords and spells barely had any effect on them when we came in human form, so how are you going to get inside? The only thing getting in and out of that city are Gorons."  
  
Link took out a mask from his pocket. "That won't be a problem."  
  
To be continued. ____________________________________________________________________________ __  
  
I know it's very bad leavin' him dead like that in the last chapter for so long, so I made up for it in this one. Sorry for takin' so long in postin' it. I'll make the next one longer aiight. I'll give it a good two or three days and I'll see about updating all of my fics on possibly a weekly basis, 'specially the ones on the site. So until Monday, I'm out, MAN!!! 


	5. The Traitor

Disclaimer: All of the characters in this story do not belong to me. They are the property of their respective owners. So now you STILL can't sue me, MAN!!!  
  
Another N64 quote that applies to the day I wrote this: It's just too hot! Guess who said that in your review and you can tell me what other Sonic Character you want me to add to this. No SA2 chars though, since, in this timeline, it hasn't happened yet. I'm already gonna add the Chaotix and Kragok, okay?  
  
Chaos in Hyrule Chapter 5  
  
Fire and ice flew through the air near the cavernous entrance to the Goron city. Chaos was everywhere as erect lizard-like creatures and deformed Gorons poured from the entrance and flung boulders up at the flying pests that were bombarding their home. In the chaos one solitary creature slipped through and into the entrance. Link looked around the city in Goron form and was shocked. The place was in shambles. Bomb plant pieces were everywhere, the paintings on the walls had been scorched or smeared somehow, and for some reason he expected the monsters around here to make an appearance quite soon.  
  
He stomped around grunting at the other Gorons as he passed. Something was definitely wrong with all of them. Each one was strange looking, like hunchbacks with one eye that was bigger than the other. They loped along around him instead of rolling on the ground like regular Gorons did. If they did, they weren't gonna get far with that hump making them jump every time they rolled. The other creatures in the city were nearly unfamiliar to Link. If he hadn't looked into the eyes of one of the smaller creatures he wouldn't have recognized the feral man eating Dodongos. It seemed as if they had somehow become people of thought like any Hylian. But how it happened had yet to be explained.  
  
As he passed the cavern leading to the Lost Woods, Link heard a sad tune being played on an ocarina instead of the happy melody that Saria always played. He felt a pang of sadness at the thought of anything happening to his adopted people. But if something had happened to the Gorons, what horrible fate had befallen the Kokiri?  
  
"Hey, you," someone said from behind Link.  
  
"Wha?" Link turned around and saw who had called him. He was short by Hylian standards, but he looked built. He was a red creature with dreadlocks and these huge metal plated fists with two claws on the ends.  
  
"Shouldn't you be working, pal? Stop staring at me and get moving! The faster we find a way to get that chaos emerald, the faster we can restore the Master and get the island floating again."  
  
"Say what?" Link was confused, staring down at the stocky guy yelling at him.  
  
"Are you deaf or something? I said get moving!" To Link's surprise he actually shoved the huge Goron body he was in back a few feet toward Darunia's room.  
  
"Wait a second!" Link bellowed, trying to hold his ground. "What Master? What's going on around here?"  
  
The red guy flinched for a second and looked up at Link in shock. Something wasn't right with this Goron. He wasn't deformed like all the others. Plus, he saw something wrong with his face, like it shimmered. He spun the huge rock creature around and before he could protest, he backhanded him. The mask on Link's face went flying. The shimmering became this sort of flash as the Goron shrunk down to human size and back into Link.  
  
The hero gave a weak little wave to the stunned crowd around them and said," Heh, uh.hi?"  
  
"It's a spy, get 'im," the red creature bellowed.  
  
Every fully grown Goron and Dodongo around them jumped and grabbed at Link. Even though he struggled with all of his strength, the Gorons matched his enhanced might. It went on for a few minutes before Link was held at every limb by a few burly looking Goron hunchbacks. The red guy looked on contemptuously and snorted.  
  
"When will Ganon ever learn. It doesn't matter how many spies he sends up here, he'll never be able to take this mountain." He walked up in front of the panting and struggling hero. "Now who are you?"  
  
"I'm not a spy, I-" Link screamed as the red guy gave him a gut buster and winded him.  
  
"Don't lie to me," he said. "Overlanders can't make it up the trail with those three thieves occupying the town down there. Now tell the truth! What does Ganon want from us?"  
  
"I-I don't w-work for Gano-agghh!" Link wheezed as he was pummeled again.  
  
The red guy dusted his arms and said," We're not gonna get anything outta this punk. Throw him in the volcano. Maybe that'll make Volvagia happy."  
  
"Knuckles, don't," some husky voice yelled. "He's on our side. You have to believe me!"  
  
Hobbling out of the crowd came a very familiar looking Goron. He stopped only at Link's side and took a good long look in his face.  
  
"Are you sure, Link," Knuckles said. "He looks sort of suspicious. And changing forms like that.I don't know. For all we know he could be Ganon in disguise."  
  
The young Goron looked at Link and sort of smiled, if a deformed grimace of disorderly teeth can be considered a smile. "Positive. This is the hero who saved us all from the Dodongos all those years ago. I was named after him."  
  
Knuckles lifted one of his eyebrows and them waved the rest of the Gorons away from Link. "If this really is the legendary hero, how can we prove it?"  
  
Link thought about it for a second and then started digging into his pockets.  
  
'Hope I didn't lose it somewhere. Because if I did, that crazy red guy is going to have me sacrificed.'  
  
"Ah, here it is," Link exclaimed pulling out the spiritual stone he'd been lugging around for so long. "Here's your proof. As a reward they gave me the Goron's Ruby."  
  
Knuckles looked defeated for a second, but then he started walking toward Darunia's room. "Come with me."  
  
Link complied and strolled along behind the red echidna.  
  
"My name is Knuckles of the house of Edmund, son of Locke, and Guardian of the Master Emarlad that keeps Angel Island afloat above the earth." They walked back behind the statue and into the secret entrance to the volcano where a titanic sight awaited them. "Only right now the Master has been.incapacitated.again. The water creature Chaos and that maniac, Ganon broke it while trying to siphon off it's power. Ganon somehow brought us to this world with the energy he absorbed from the Master. Seven chunks of the emerald have been spread across the land in all directions. I found one here with the Gorons and another up on the floating Island. But all the chunks have done is take away the most of the Island's weight. Take a look."  
  
The sight took Link's breath away. A massive landmass took up the sky and blocked the volcano. Hanging from massive chains, the Island's tip almost touched the floor. The lava had apparently risen because of the pressure. The cavern glowed with red and gold light. The heat was stifling, like being in an oven.  
  
"Not long after this happened, Darunia, the Goron's leader, disappeared after going into the Fire Temple. Every couple of weeks, this fire dragon that the Gorons call Volvagia comes outta the temple and tries to climb up on the island. Every time we manage to stop it, but it always killed or incapacitates the warriors I bring with me. I know that if I had all seven Chaos Emeralds that I could become stronger and kill it, but the Gorons need a leader. I'm the only one that qualifies at the moment since I'm the only one who opposes Volvagia. So I can't go out looking for it without sacrificing them all."  
  
"I'm going over there," Link said, limbering up his Logshot at the part of the wooden bridge that hung from the entrance to the temple. "And I'm getting Darunia back."  
  
As Link shot away, Knuckles jumped out above the magma and caught the thermals in his dreads, allowing him to fly after him. Soon enough he'd caught up to the running hero and shot down the entrance to the temple. But instead of the regular archway, it was a huge mural. In front of it were different colored bricks. The picture was incomplete.  
  
"This is the most annoying part of my job," Link said glumly. "Dungeon puzzles.how I loathe dungeon puzzles!"  
  
Knuckles scratched his head and looked at the mural. "What are we supposed to do here then? Finish the picture? It looks sort of familiar."  
  
"Well, then why don't you give it a shot? I have no idea what its supposed to look like."  
  
Knuckles gripped up a few of the bricks and put them in a few of the slots. After about forty or so seconds, the picture was beginning to take shape. That is until a sinister laugh filled the air and the bricks all shoved themselves out of the wall and magically stacked themselves again.  
  
Knuckles looked on agape with his mouth hanging open.  
  
"I forgot to mention that most of the time they have time limits or a guardian spirit resets the puzzle on you. Sort of a gas huh?" Link said as he picked with his nails.  
  
Pissed beyond belief, Knuckles went back to work on the puzzle at a faster pace. But in the end the time limit would just force the bricks back out of the wall. Knuckles tried at least a dozen strategies before he started banging his fists on the wall. Literally. Link chuckled to himself, remembering a similar reaction he had when a few of the puzzles got the best of him.  
  
"Okay, okay," Link said in between laughs. "I'll help you out, alright? You go ahead and take half the bricks for the top and I'll fill in the ones for the bottom. Hopefully we can beat the time limit."  
  
Working in tandem, Knuckles and Link shoved each of the bricks in the appropriate slots and stood back to admire their work. Link was confused about the portrait, it made almost no sense to him. In the picture was a large blue swirling mass with snake heads poking out of it. Around it were three figures, one a spiky looking gold flame, the other was a dark demon looking monster with two swords, and the last was a man encased in gleaming whitish blue armor with a red sword. The backdrop was very gloomy and dark; a wasteland with agonized faces drawn on the hills.  
  
"What does it mean," Link asked.  
  
"It's a prophecy.I recognize the gold character over there. I think I've seen it before, but the rest of them are all alien to me. I'll have to go to the archives back in Haven to figure them out later on."  
  
Suddenly the mural faded away to reveal the dark corridor that led to the fire temple. Both the hero and the guardian were careful where they stepped, the ground wasn't stable and extremely hot. Link unsheathed his sword and held it up like a torch. The end began to glow a ghostly white. The walls were filled with pictures of echidnas and strange looking humans.  
  
"Wait!" Knuckles stopped in front of one of the pictures and grabbed Link's arm. As he pulled the light closer to one of the pictures, it became apparent who had put that puzzle up. The echidna in the picture looked almost human in his gold and blue armor. His dreadlocks were longer and thicker than Knuckles or any of the other echidnas in the pictures.  
  
"Who is it," Link asked, taking a closer look..  
  
For some reason Knuckles' eyes seemed hold a certain pride even though his face was scowling. ".Enerjak. C'mon, we gotta hurry!"  
  
Knuckles rushed down the corridor with Link just behind him. Just as he was about to enter the temple, Knuckles shoved him back. He told him to shut up and take a good look around the corner. When he did, Link was shocked at the incredible change in the place. The Temple had completely changed shape. Instead of a crumbling stone and rusted metal place, it was an elegant place of marble arches and crystal. Milling around the temple were metal Gorons and people in black cloaks.  
  
"Dark Legion. No wonder all of the Gorons I sent up here never came back, they've all been roboticized."  
  
"Who are these guys?" Link reached into his pocket and fished around for something.  
  
"Bad news. Real bad news. They want nothing more than to take over the Floating Island and take the Master Emerald. If they're here, they must be hunting around for the Chaos Emerald. If I had that, the Island could be made to fly again. But how are we gonna get from one side of this place to the other without getting our hides blasted off?"  
  
Link jumped out at two passing Legionnaires and threw out a deku nut. The flash blinded them momentarily, just long enough for him to slink in and slam the hilt of his blade into their temples. He then dragged them back to their hiding place.  
  
Knuckles smirked and said," I could've thought of that."  
  
"Well apparently not fast enough," Link replied as he stripped the cloak off of the mechanized echidna. "Now hurry up. They'll probably find them before we're done, if my luck runs the way it does."  
  
Link looked ridiculous in the cloak made for a stocky creature like Knuckles, so he made himself a stocky looking creature. With the Deku Scrub mask donned, the black attire fit him fine. Soon enough they were walking in an exact copy of the Hidden Palace Zone. Beneath a marble bridge in the main room, the lava pool was still there, being tapped by geothermal generators. In the lava swam a very large lizard-like shape, one that made Link's sap/blood run cold. Volvagia had grown much larger and stronger than the last time he saw him.  
  
"Just a little farther," Link said as they crossed over to the other side of the bridge.  
  
Right there was the door leading to the Boss chamber. Above the stone slab that was the door was the Fire crest. But instead of the normal one it seemed to be a mix, it was slowly changing from one crest to another. It had a strange lizard head with flames at the edges. Darunia's sage powers were failing, soon the transfer would be complete and the Chaos Emerald would be fully powered.  
  
Knuckles sidled up next to Link. "You get up to that door, I'll make a distraction."  
  
Knuckles ran off in the direction of a crowd of Legionnaires and gripped two of the around the neck. Soon enough there was a fight going on with Knuckles in the middle. The hero saw the red echidna slowly melt away into the crowd with a smirk on his face just before he disappeared entirely. Link walked up to the door and then felt around behind the groove between the door and the wall. Soon enough his twiggy hand found the key he had hidden there so long ago when he left the temple the first time. He was about to open the door when somebody tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned around he saw Knuckles standing over him without the disguise.  
  
"Wha-What's going on," Link said as he was suddenly surrounded by echidnas in black. "Knuckles? What are you doing?"  
  
"Nothing you need to worry about for too much longer," Knuckles said as he snatched the key away from him. "Finally, we'll be able to kill that annoying Goron in there. When we invaded the temple, he locked himself inside. Since then we've done nothing but devise ways of getting that door open." He snorted. "This damn world is drowning in magic. The blasted crap has even overwhelmed our incredible technology, and that can't be allowed to continue. That's what protects that door from us and our attempts to open it. Lasers, cutting tools, tank blasters, mortars, and jackhammers for days on end have done nothing. In the end we settled for reviving the temple's boss and using magic against magic by using Volvagia to drain the energy from the idiot holed up in that room and into that dead Chaos Emerald."  
  
"What? Argh, I thought these stooges were your enemies!" Link yelled as he was gripped up yet again at Knuckles' command. "Or did you lie about that too? Like you lied to Link and all the rest of them back in the city! You make me sick! When I get these goons off of me, I'll rip your head off with my bare hands." Of course, the threat lost it's effect because of the small squeak of a whispery voice that Link had as a Deku Scrub.  
  
"You're not exactly in any position to make threats," a deep voice said from behind the crowd. He steadily walked through the parting crowd. Each of the Legionnaires knelt down as he came near, yet kept their weapons at the ready in case their leader came under attack from the little hero. He was a head taller than most of his minions. His body seemed comprised mostly of armor instead of flesh. One of his eyes if not both were artificial, as well as one of his arms and legs. His head was covered in gadgetry and circuits all the way down to his dreads.  
  
Knuckles knelt in front of him and said," All is in preparation, Great Uncle. We have the key, and soon the Emerald below will be fully charged and we can begin the restoration."  
  
"What restoration? And what the hell are you supposed to be," Link asked, looking Knuckles' mechanized relative over.  
  
WHACK! WHAM! CRACK! WHUD!  
  
Lightning fast, a foot, a spiked fist, and two rifle butts collided with Link's chest and head. The pain was fleeting, since his skin was mostly bark, but still a reminder that the fanatics around him would not tolerate any disrespect to their leader. The metal monstrosity smirked and bent down to the slumped Scrub to get a good look at him.  
  
"I am Dimitri, soon to be empowered yet again with the might of the Chaos Emeralds. I am leader of the Dark Legion and master to my misguided descendant over there." Dimitri sneered. "It was actually pretty easy to manipulate him into thinking that he's always worked for me. I guess he must have gotten some sort of brain injury when he was trying to defend the Master from Chaos and Ganon. When we found him, he barely even knew who he was." He laughed out loud and started to walk away. "Knuckles do away with the intruder and do something about that annoying sage. I want that Emerald in my possession by 900 hours tomorrow." He then looked over his shoulder. "He found us the key, so make it quick. Nothing too gruesome."  
  
Knuckles snapped his fingers and cursed under his breath. "Yes, sir. Alright, you heard him. Let's unlock that door, I want blasters trained on that Goron the second that door opens. I don't want a piece of him left when we're done here. Then we'll kill the hero."  
  
One Legionnaire walked up by Knuckles and took the key as a few others gathered around him and limbered up their blasters at the door. As the guy turned the key in the lock, something didn't seem right. Wasn't that Legionnaire next to the turncoat echidna a little taller than usual?  
  
'No time to worry about that now,' Link thought. 'I've got to stop them from killing Darunia. No one's holding my legs, sooo.'  
  
One of Link's wooden legs flashed up and hit one of the Legionnaires holding him in the gut with a loud swishing sound. With his arm free he pulled the mask painfully from his face and put it away. He swung the echidna holding his arm over his shoulder and slammed him into the ground. He pulled out the Megaton Hammer and activated Nayru's Love. He ran all out for the lava pools as the dark echidnas blasted him with their energy weapons. He hopped off the edge and into the pool without any sign of faltering.  
  
"Forget about him get the-"  
  
"Now!"  
  
The Legionnaire next to Knuckles cracked him over the head with his blaster and shot him with it on stun as he lay on the floor. The other three around him started shooting all the other echidnas in the chamber. Knuckles seemed to just levitate off the ground and float away toward the exit. As he drifted into the dark corridor something could be seen in the shadows carrying him over it's shoulders. The legionnaire that knocked the guardian out took something from his head and pointed it at the ceiling.  
  
"Into the boss room!!"  
  
The thing in his hand let off a shock wave that sent boulders and rocks from the ceiling raining down on top of the entrance to the chamber. With the entrance sealed off they were all safe. After looking around, they saw that there was nothing in the chamber aside from a boulder and some lava pools.  
  
"Man, oh, man," the tall one said as he lifted off his cowl. "It's hot up in this jawn, yo."  
  
"Then deal with it, Vector," a female echidna said as she lifted off the heavy dark robes. "We just might be here awhile."  
  
"I can barely take it in here," the other said as he tossed the robes off of his armored back. "I hope we find this sage soon, Julie-su, 'cause I don't know how much longer I can sit in here. This heat's making me weak."  
  
"Find somewhere to relax for a while, Mighty. You'll be fine, you're stronger than all of us put together," Julie-su said, wiping the sweat off of her brow.  
  
Mighty flopped down on the boulder and groaned. "Just means there's more of me to cook."  
  
"Maybe I should bring it down again and rock us a way outta here," Vector said as he began to remove his earphones.  
  
"NO!!!" Mighty and Julie-su yelled at the top of their lungs.  
  
"You could end up bringing, like, tons of lava down from the ceiling," Julie-su said.  
  
Vector kicked the boulder, it shuddered a little from the force. "Well we gotta find some way to get outta here, man. If the witch's friends hadn't messed wit' Knux's head we wouldn't be in here lookin' for some guy who's obviously found a way out himself! I bet he don't even exist, man!"  
  
Suddenly the floor began to buck and quake. Out of one of the pools came Volvagia roaring his heart out. The Chaotix members were too shocked to react as it reared it's head back and then.fell on it's side. There was black oil and blood leaking from it's eyes and the back of the head. Apparently the beast had a machine connected to the back of it's head. Soon enough out of the lava came Link, in a rapidly fading Nayru's Love crystal. The spell collapsed and Link was left defenseless. He pulled out something from his pack and the threw it over at the dying beast.  
  
"That oughta put it out of it's misery," Link muttered, turning his back on the beast as the bomb exploded.  
  
Looking on from his seat, Mighty thought it heartless to overkill it the way he did. Julie thought it necessary after seeing what it had done to the Gorons over the last couple of weeks. All those poor souls had finally been avenged.  
  
Link strolled up to where Mighty sat and said," Hey, Darunia! Big bro, you okay now?"  
  
"Say what," Mighty said as he fell off the moving boulder.  
  
The boulder unfolded itself to reveal a tired and hunchbacked version of the powerful sage. Slowly, yet steadily Darunia morphed back to his rightful form. As he stood up to his full 6'5 height.  
  
"Never felt better, brother Link," the huge Goron said. "Soon enough, my fellow Gorons will feel the same way. Now, where's that traitor, Knuckles? He tricked me into walking into a trap. In my own temple too!"  
  
Julie-su chuckled at the thought. 'Knuckles actually tricked someone? Hahahahahaha!' She thought, remembering the story of the first time he met Robotnik.  
  
"Oh well, doesn't matter," He said. "Let's just get out of here. The sound of that lava bubbling, and the heat are both driving me crazy!"  
  
Suddenly, the place seemed to flash out of sight. Soon enough Darunia and Link were in the Sacred realm, floating in the diadem of Hyrule's Temples. The Chaotix were all frozen in time in those shocked poses they had when they were teleported.  
  
"Hyrule has been wounded.It's bad out there Link. I sense such suffering and evil almost everywhere I look," Darunia said. "You've got to do something about it. But first."  
  
In front of Link flashed the fully charged Chaos Emerald that Volvagia had charged with what was left of his life energy.  
  
"Maybe you can make some use of it." Then the world once again flashed out of existence.  
  
When Link got his sight back he was sitting in the Goron City. Everything was back to normal again. All of the Gorons had returned to their original form, but for some reason the Dodongo people were still around. Instead of lingering on that point, Link got right back on track with his next mission. Right into the Lost Woods.  
  
The Chaotix didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. But Link knew that they'd been put where they were needed most, just like he had every time he visited that realm. As he started heading toward the path to the woods, he heard an explosion. He looked up and pulled his shield around just in time. The impact sent him flying back into a wall where he slumped down for a second before unsheathing his sword for battle. Right in front of him with his arms crossed was the lightning fast blue hedgehog.  
  
"You're fast, pal," Sonic said. "But I'm much, much faster. Now we can do this the hard way or the easy way. I don't really want to hurt you, man, I just want the emerald you're packing."  
  
Link stood ready with his charging sword behind him. "Too bad. I've already grown attached to it."  
  
Sonic seemed to disappear just as Link was slammed in his side with a spin- dash. "Why do they always do it the hard way?"  
  
The hero pulled up his shield to his side as the hedgehog tried to follow up on his last strike with a flurry of kicks and punches. The Mirror shield wouldn't hold up much longer after that kind of rapid punishment, it was denting inward. Finally the thing buckled and broke when Sonic decided to cut through it with a Triple Spin. Link went on the offensive, slashing and cutting at the hedgehog as fast as he could.  
  
As far as Sonic was concerned, Link was moving in thick molasses. When the hero tried to flip over the speedster, Sonic jumped straight up and head butted him in the gut. When he landed on his head, Link was immediately set upon by the hedgehog. He tossed all of the items out of his magic pack and then pulled out the emerald. Sonic admired it for about a millisecond before flying off yet again. Only this time to the Lost Woods.  
  
Link finally sat up and rubbed his head while looking up at the ceiling of the City. "Why me? 'coff' Why me?! Why are you punishing me?" He seemed to sob for a second and then he said something that will live in infamy(and possibly get me so many flames).  
  
"I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!!!"  
  
To be continued.  
  
______________________________  
  
How was that, MAN!!!? I'll have the next chapter up in about a week or so. Be sure to stay wit' me. I've got me little surprises cooked up for the Kokiri, the Gerudo, and the Hylians. Read and Review, MAN!!! I wanna know what ya'll think.  
  
Now onto the serious part of this crap. I kinda forced the end of that chapter, so bear wit' me. Longer means ya usually get less quality, aiight? And don't worry about Knuckles and the Chaotix, I'll do something about them soon.Yeah and I know I ain't right, MAN!!! 


End file.
